A sterile hand-held manual, surgical instrument preloaded with bioabsorbable skin staples designed to approximate free edges of skin from an incision or wound. This stapler is a manually-powered device designed to mechanically deliver the staples; the staples (which may be clip-like) are made of material(s) that are gradually degraded by the body (typically biodegradable polymer), and therefore does not have to be removed. This is a single-use device.